


Just Like That

by Jaymilitary55



Series: Tier One [6]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29640939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaymilitary55/pseuds/Jaymilitary55
Summary: Jay reveals his past in order to help a victim.
Series: Tier One [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021467
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Just Like That

“Let me talk to the kid, sarge, I know I can get through to him.” Jay says to his boss.

“Okay.” Voight says. He and Al turn into the observation room, watching as Jay sits down next to the kid in question.

“I understand why you’re doing it,” Jay starts. “I know that your father is the only family you have ever known. I know that you think that your life is how the world works. I know that you don’t believe me when I say that it’s not. That your father is one of the worst men I have ever come across in my life. I know what it’s like.”

“How? How do you know?” The boy asks, speaking for the first time since they had brought him in over four hours before.

“Because that's how my life was.” Jay says. Al and Voight exchange a look with each other behind the glass.

“What do you mean?” The boy's name was Nico, Intelligence had found the fifthteen year old at a stash house on the west side. They knew that it was Nico’s father that was running the house, but Nico remained adamant that it was him calling the shots. 

“There was this time, think I was four or five at the time, there was this stray dog that liked to hang around our house. One day my father was beating the shit out of me in the living room, and the dog, which was no bigger than a cat, runs into our house and attacks my father. Didn’t do much, just made him madder, but it was the thought that counts. Anyway, he managed to get a hold of the dog and he chained it to the dining room table, I was still on the ground at this point, and he turns to me and says that if I make a sound, he’ll kill the dog. He then resumes beating the shit out of me, but I don’t make a sound. After a while he takes off his belt and whips me with it. It feels like hours before I finally make a sound, a whimper that I hadn’t meant to let out. He stops and fucking grins at me, before taking a hammer off the table and smashing the dogs head into the ground. He comes back to me and shoves me head into the pile of blood and bone, and continues beating me, saying it was my own fault, that I had brought this on myself.” Jay stops, closing his eyes, sucking in deep breaths, trying to calm down. 

“What I’m trying to say is, I know what it’s like, to want your father’s love so badly that you let him treat you like shit because maybe, just maybe, he’ll appreciate you for it, praise you for taking it, for not complaining. I know what it's like to be beaten by your father day in and day out, for years, never saying a word because you're still holding out hope that he’ll say those three words that you have been waiting your entire life to hear. But take it from someone who knows what it’s like, it's not worth it, he’s not worth it, those three words coming from him aren’t worth you life, your happiness. I know that some part of you knows that I’m right, because that’s exactly how I felt when I was told the exact same thing I’m telling you now. I didn’t want to believe that my father wasn’t worth my pain, that what he was doing was cruel, I didn’t want to believe it because my father was the only thing I had ever known, all I ever cared about, it was my only goal, to gain his love, and without that goal, I had no idea who I was, what I was supposed to be, supposed to do, to act. It took time, but eventually I figured it out, I just needed a little help getting started.” Jay stops and lets the words sink in. 

“Why are you helping me?” Nico asks after a few minutes of silence.

“I wanted to do for you what nobody did for me.” Jay says simply.

“Why me though? There are so many other kids that need help in Chicago?” He asks with a frown.

“You remind me of me when I was younger, and if you’re anything like me, I don’t think you can take much more of this, but you also have a very bright future ahead of you, a future that makes you happy.” Jay says.

“Is that what happened to you?” Nico asks.

“Yes and no. I didn’t have anybody to help me realize what the world was actually like until after I ran away from home. But I did have help moving past what he did to me, moving forward, doing something that made me proud.” Jay says.

“You ran away?”

“Yes. Think I was 6, almost 7 at the time.”

“What made you realize the world was different?” 

“It was a combination of things, over the years, that made me realize that what he was telling me was wrong. The first thing was my last memory of my mother, she and my father divorced when I was three, with my mother taking my older brother and me going to my dad. The last thing she said to me before we left the courthouse was that she loved me and that I would always be her baby boy.”

“I never knew my mother, she died having me, it’s why my father hates me so much.” Nico says, lowering his eyes to the floor of the interrogation room.

“Whatever he said to you, her death is not your fault, shit happens sometimes, it’s not on you.” Jay says.

“Maybe.” 

“What else?” Nico asks.

“A bunch of really little things like cashiers at the store giving me stickers and ruffling my hair, or librarians helping me reach a book on a high shelf…”

“Or other kids sharing food with me at school?” Nico says hesitantly.

“Exactly! Random acts of kindness for absolutely no reason.” Jay says with a smile. 

“What else?” 

“There was this story on the news when I was 6, a school shooting, and as they were talking they showed a video of some of the kids reuniting with their parents, the parents were crying as they hugged their kids, it all kind of snapped into place at that moment, and the next time my father let me out of the house, which was almost seven months later, I ran.” Jay explains. 

“Just like that?” 

“Just like that.” 


End file.
